


12 Days of Fic-mas

by EchoGhost



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: 12 Days of Fic-mas, ASL, Accidental Drinking, Agnostic Character, Biblical Scripture References (Abrahamic Religions), Boots - Freeform, But it's very minor and not very detailed, Christmas, Christmas Party, Cold, Danny Fenton being a Little Shit, Drunk Danny, Eggnog, Emetophobia, Episode: s03e06 Urban Jungle, Gen, Gift, Grinch References, Holidays, Jolly - Freeform, Laughter, Maddie being a good parent for once, Mistaken Identity, Prompt Challenge, Religion, Silent Night, The Boy Who Hates Christmas, Underage Drinking, Urban Jungle AU, angel - Freeform, grinch, ornament, polyglot Danny, puppy, santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:40:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 7,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28030287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoGhost/pseuds/EchoGhost
Summary: Starting on the 12th of December and over the next twelve days, I will attempt to use 12 different Christmas-y/holiday/wintery words as prompts. Think of it as my gift to you.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43





	1. Day 01 - Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paulina is suspicious of Danny and knows there's something up with him.

Paulina would never admit it out loud, but Wes did have a point when it came to Danny Fenton and his not being normal.

Of course, going so far as to say he was Phantom was ridiculous. You can't be alive and dead at the same time, that's just stupid.

But that didn't mean there wasn't something supernatural going on. So she kept an eye on him. Just in case he slipped up.

In the meantime, she kept a log of all the oddities and casually researched with the little evidence she had.

It wasn't until one seemingly normal day in December that everything finally clicked into place.

“No way.”

Danny whipped around and those big baby blues of his looked so startled. “Paulina? What are you doing here?”

“Why am  _ I _ in the girl’s bathroom? Shouldn’t I be asking  _ you  _ that?”

“Girl’s?” He looked around, actually noticing his surroundings, and then muttered more to himself, “So it is. You know the lack of urinals really should have given that away.” He puffed up with a big breath and looked like he was teetering on the edge of dying of embarrassment or just losing himself to hysterics. “And now that I’ve been shown my error, I’ll just leave.”

He started to make his way out, but she stopped him by easily blocking his path. “No, wait!”

“Why?”

“I saw it.”

“Saw what?”

“The light.”

"The light?  _ The  _ light?!" Danny visibly paled, "Are-are you okay?"

"What? No! Not  _ that  _ light!"

"Oh, okay good. I was really worried for a second there." He took a breath to relax but then looked perplexed again, "So what light did you see?"

"Your halo."

"Oh?" He asked, then paused to think and answered his own question with another, "oh." Quickly followed by another much more alarmed, "Oh!"

If this were any other situation, Paulina definitely would have laughed at how ridiculously expressive he was.

"Halo." He spoke the word so carefully as if the word itself was fragile.

Or that it was too important to say carelessly.

"I can't believe you're an angel of all things." Paulina paused to reconsider that statement, "No, that's not true. This makes perfect sense!"

"It does?"

"Well yeah! You're the nicest person I think I've ever met for starters."

"I'm not  _ that  _ nice."

"You really are. I don't think I've ever seen you actually get mad at anyone."

"I've gotten mad at plenty of people."

"Getting into the occasional fight with your friends doesn't count. I mean you never even try to get back at Dash."

“But fighting would just make it worse.”

“You never swear.” She continued.

“Nobody  _ needs  _ to swear.”

“Of course not, but that doesn't stop everyone from doing it anyway. So why don’t you?”

“I don’t want to?” he asked more than answered.

She just raised her eyebrow at him.

“I’m not supposed to.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“None of those things prove anything.”

“Maybe not separately but together they paint a pretty interesting picture. And speaking of,” she looked him up and down and had a hard time finding any flaws. The only things that needed work were his wardrobe and his posture, both of which were quite easy fixes.

Honestly, the more she looked him over the more she noticed how good-looking he was. His blemish-free complexion, the bluest eyes she’d ever seen, that dark hair that was charmingly unkempt…

She looked away. She did not need to work herself up and get another crush. It was bad enough to fall for the Ghost Boy, she didn’t need another unobtainable Danny taking up room in her heart.

"Look I won't tell anyone, okay?"

"Really?" He looked so hopeful and the tiniest bit worried too.

"Yeah. Clearly, you are  _ trying  _ to be discreet," That had to be why he was posing as a loser. He had the looks and was likable enough that he should be popular. It seemed like the only reason he was an outcast is because that's where he put himself, "I'm sure blowing your cover isn't part of the plan." She put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I just want to say that despite the school being such a hotspot for ghosts I've never felt unsafe here. I used to think that it was because of the Ghost Boy, but now I think it's because of you. Whatever it is that you're doing, it must be good."

The way his eyes lit up at her praise reminded her of the meteor shower that happened during her Quinceañera.

It made her want to be a better person.


	2. Day 02 - Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Box Ghost explores a new warehouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, sorry this is so late! I spent way too much time last night trying to write something for day two but kept getting distracted and then I slept in super late and then my parents decided today was the day we were getting the Christmas tree...
> 
> Anywho, I finally got this one done. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

The Box Ghost flew the night sky over the warehouse district he knew so well. Every building hugged the riverbank like a child's collection of blocks, some were right on the water's edge while others were much further back which gave the skyline a very jagged view.

Box Ghost loved these buildings, even the abandoned ones. Especially the abandoned ones. Phantom had finally eased up on his territory and let him, The Box Ghost, have free reign of the abandoned warehouses.

Unfortunately, there were only three, but it was more than he had before, so he was happy.

Most of the time he would spend his time moving his boxes about between the three buildings, wander around the area's active buildings to collect any unused, or simply unguarded, boxes to add to his collection. Some nights he'd get lucky and get some bubble wrap. An even better time was the night he got a roll of packing tape!

This night however was not like all the ones before. He must have been gone longer than he realized because two of his buildings were gone and had been replaced with one much larger one.

The Box Ghost had mixed feelings about this. He of course was very upset that someone had taken his buildings and was worried he might have left some boxes and that they were gone now. He wouldn't be a particularly good box ghost if he lost boxes now, would he?

He huffed and checked his inventory in the one building he had left. He still had a good supply left; this must have been the last building he had used. He could never really remember once he returned to the Zone.

After moving his boxes around inside his building and getting some new boxes to make up for his lost ones, he decided to take a quick peek at what the new building was.

He looked at the glowing letters on the side of the building, but the name of the company was unfamiliar and meant nothing to him. He flew inside and looked down at the wide expanse. 

There were so many shelves and tracks of conveyer belts, much more than any of the other buildings in the area. And he would know, he'd been in every single one of them.

He stayed invisible as he explored not wanting to cause a scene.

He flew in close and saw that each of the boxes all had the same little smirk on them as if they were all happy to see him.

He dropped his invisibility and picked up the nearest grinning box, dumping its useless contents on the concrete below.

"Why hello, Amazon. I'm the Box Ghost." He turned and saw an employee as they just rounded the corner of the shelving unit. 

He couldn't help but grin. "Beware."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to my brother for coming up with the idea of The Box Ghost in an Amazon warehouse. Couldn't have done it without you buddy!


	3. Day 03 - Jolly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another hilarious Fenton invention affects Danny.

Danny opened the front door of his house and smiled. It felt good to be home, especially today. Not that this day had been particularly difficult, more of the same really.

He dropped his bag by the door and headed down to the lab to see what his parents were inventing.

With a burst of joyful spontaneity, Danny hops off the second to last step into the lab. The sound of his shoes hitting the tile startles his Dad enough that he jumps a little as he turns toward the sound.

"Oh, Dan-o it's just you. Thought it was a ghost for a second there."

Danny couldn't hold back the laugh at the irony of that, "Sorry Dad, so whatcha working on?"

"The Fenton Ghost Radio!" His dad proudly shows off the latest tech, with a broad sweeping gesture that nearly knocks the thing off the table.

Luckily, his mom is there to push the device out of his reach.

"Ghost Radio? What's it do? Only plays Ember McClain?" He joked.

"No, it actually-" his mother started but was interrupted.

"Or no, wait, it only picks up Disco stations!" Danny could barely contain his laughter, easily falling into a fit of giggles.

"Now Danny, if you're only going to poke fun you can go back upstairs." His mom chided.

"I'm sorry. You're right." Danny stifled his laughter but couldn't stop smiling at the thought of some lame Disco themed ghost popping into existence and claiming that Disco wasn't dead, but _undead_. "Go on."

She rolled her eyes and explained, "It plays tones at different frequencies, one’s humans can't hear. We're seeing what effect it has on ectoplasm and ectoplasmic entities."

He tried to cover his mouth to hold it in, but Danny couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore.

“Danny for Pete’s sake what is so funny?” his mom scolded in exasperation.

“I’m sorry.” Danny apologized through his giggles. Nothing about this situation was funny and yet he was laughing so hard his ribs hurt. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t stop.”

“What do you mean you can’t stop?” his dad asked.

Something was very wrong. His lungs were burning, and his cheeks hurt so bad from the grin etched into his face, but he _couldn’t stop_. “It hurts.”

“Jack, the machine!”

Danny couldn’t see through all the tears as he fell to his knees. He had no idea if they were from laughing so hard or from pain. It was probably both.

He could just barely hear the machine’s power-down whine over his own hysterics. The room started to sway as he got light-headed. Then he realized _he_ was the one moving just before he face-planted onto the cold cement.

Another torrent of giggles tore through him as it occurred to him that out of all the times he’s been beaten up or tossed around in ghost fights, _this_ is the first time he’s ever broken his nose.

And that? _That_ was funny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *struggles with my own writing challenge*  
> Also me: *has a backlog of fic ideas that I came up with after DannyMay*  
> Me at me: “Why don’t you take those ideas and put them over there?”
> 
> Anywho, I’m going to try and see if I can use more of those plot bunnies. I mean it’s only fair to share those ideas I’ve been hoarding with you lovely people.


	4. Day 04 - Grinch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just because he had his holiday special of a lesson last Christmas doesn't mean seeing holiday decorations set up too early aren’t going to make the boy grumpy after so many years, it’s basically Pavlovian.

Danny and his friends were enjoying a nice day out shopping at the local craft store. It was October, or as Sam liked to call it, 'Goth Shopping Season'.

Sam was busy deciding between a crow statue or a bat-themed candlestick holder while Tucker was examining a sewing kit when Danny saw it.

The silver flecks in white fluff that covered the display table were catching the fluorescent lights giving off an artificial sparkle. On top was a little winter village, fake frosted windows, and tiny colored lights that lined the miniature rooflines.

It was only one end cap, but it made his blood boil anyway.

Danny took a deep breath and firmly turned his back to the offending decorations. He was not going to let it ruin his day.

He went further into the nearest aisle and picked up the first thing he saw.

"There you are, man," Tucker said as he made his way over.

He tossed the box of glow in the dark beads back on the shelf, "Sam about done?"

"She's at the register now. You okay?"

He turned to face him to say he was fine but the movement of the tiny toy train that circled the winter town turned his words bitter. "I'm fine."

Perplexed by Danny's sudden sour mood Tucker quickly looked around to see what was so upsetting. It didn't take long to find it. "Ah I see." he placed a hand on Danny's shoulder and steered him away, "let's just go the long way then."

"I mean it's October for crying out loud.  _ October! _ It was bad enough when it started to overtake Thanksgiving, but  _ mid-October?! _ "

"Well, I do agree that it's a bit early for that, but you gotta calm down."

Danny just glared at Tucker.

Tucker's hand went up defensively, "And that was the wrong thing to say. My bad." Then he leaned in close and stage whispered, "I just meant to say that you're getting a little green, if you know what I mean."

Danny took a deep breath and closed his eyes tight, willing himself to reign in his ghostly side so his eyes would stop glowing. "I'm sorry. It's just I'm supposed to have two more months before I have to worry about ' _ the annual debate' _ ."

"Do you really think they'll be at it again this year? I mean didn't you make it pretty clear last year that you didn't like it?"

"Tucker, you've met my parents. I would be impressed if they remembered it past New Year's."

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"What's harsh?" Sam asked, a reusable tote bag in hand. The black tips of both the crow statue and bat candlesticks peeking out.

"Danny's little faith that his parents won't resort to their annual holiday debate."

"What brought this on?"

Danny just pointed back into the store towards the little model town.

"And here I thought his heart grew three sizes that day?" Sam teased as they walked out of the store.

"Was that a _Grinch_ reference?"

Sam beamed, "Fits pretty well don't you think? I mean from what you told us, that whole Christmas Curse Ghostwriter put you under was that story almost beat for beat."

Danny groaned in defeat.

It really was just like that, wasn't it?


	5. Day 05 - Holidays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny has a plan to survive the holidays.

“Guys, I think I have the perfect solution for me surviving the holidays this year!” Danny announced happily with the object to solve his problems behind his back.

“Oh, do tell.” Sam leaned forward with her chin in her hand, her miso soup temporarily forgotten.

“Yeah, lay it on us man!” Tucker egged on.

“Drum roll please,” he asked.

His friends happily obliged, drumming their fingers on the food court’s table.

“Ta-da!” he pulled his prize out revealing noise-canceling headphones. “I just have to decide if I want to save them for emergencies only or just put them on now and not take them off until the 26th.”

Tucker immediately busted up laughing, “Dude, you cannot just wear soundproof headphones 24/7.”

“And why not?” He countered as he sat down and put the headphones around his neck.

“First of all,  _ how  _ are you going to communicate with anyone?”

“Sign language, obviously.”

“That only works if we all know it," Tucker answered.

"Which we don’t,” Sam added.

"You don't? Crud." Danny leaned back in his chair, "Well I guess I'll just wear them at home then."

Sam looked down at her soup then back up to Danny, "Are you saying  _ you _ know sign language?"

"Yeah. Didn't we already establish that?"

"Since when?!" Tucker blurted out.

"Kindergarten. I could've sworn I told you?" Danny pondered trying to remember why he thought they already knew.

Then it hit him.

"No, wait you did know! You were both there!"

"Where?"

"At the zoo.” Danny sighed when all he got in response were blank expressions, “Back when we first met Skulker and he stalked me for a week or whatever, and we were in Delilah's cage, I told her how he'd been hunting me, and I needed help. Then she kicked his butt. It was  _ awesome _ ."

"I can't believe I forgot about the  _ gorilla cage match _ ." Tucker laughed pulling out his PDA most likely looking for photos of that once-in-a-lifetime moment.

" _ That _ was sign language?"

Danny deflated, "Well not the best example, but technically yes. Granted I was four years out of practice while only running on adrenaline and lack of sleep. Also, I was talking to a  _ gorilla _ , so I figured I didn't have to worry about proper grammar and syntax."

Sam pinched the bridge of her nose, "How'd you even know that would work?"

"I got the idea from that Jane lady while I was doing research at the library and then I saw that she, Delilah I mean, had signed a few things to the zookeepers during our observations. Although they never did respond to her, so I wasn't sure if she was actually signing or not."

"Wait, your  _ whole plan _ to beat Skulker was hinged on a  _ hunch _ ?" Sam asked incredulously.

Tucker shrugged, "It worked though."

"Exactly!" Danny beamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the late post. I went Christmas shopping with my brother today and I hadn't quite finished this before I went out for the day. Ah well, it's here now. I'm going to be busy again tomorrow too, so it will probably be another late upload but hopefully, the weekend will be better!


	6. Day 06 - Santa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny tells the story of one of the many bad Christmases that Tucker hadn't told Sam last year.

"So Danny, I have to ask, has every Christmas actually been terrible, or was it just a few bad ones?" Sam asked as she turned the page of her worksheet packet.

He sighed, "Yes, all 14 of them."

"I told you," Tucker replied in a sing-song as filled in the next answer.

"Okay then, what happened when you were 4?"

"That was 'Night of the Living Turkey Dinner."

"Fine. The next year?"

Danny thought for a second but easily remembered, "That was the Mall Santa incident."

Tucker grinned, "Oh I don't think I know that one."

"Alright fine I'll tell it." He turned more to Tucker, "but you gotta finish this for me. I don't want to relive my trauma and do this at the same time."

"Deal." Tucker took the offered worksheet and started checking it over.

"Okay, so that year Dad decided he wanted a picture of Jazz and me with Santa. I think he also wanted to interrogate the poor guy too, but I can't say for sure."

"Sounds likely." Tucker agreed as he started filling in Danny's sheet carefully matching his handwriting.

"Sounds okay so far," Sam added sliding her finished worksheet to Tucker so he could copy hers.

"Ah, but Mom had specifically told him  _ not  _ to do that because she didn't want us kids ‘getting poisoned by unscientific lies’, or whatever."

"I'm guessing she found out then?"

"Oh yes. We were still in line and she comes into the mall, beelines it to my Dad, and just tears him a new one. She was so mad that he did that and then he got mad. Anyway, they were causing such a scene that all the other parents were mad and the kids in line were crying so the mall cops had to come to make them leave."

"Geez, you got kicked out of the mall because of your parents? That had to suck."

"Yeah, that would have been bad too."

Both Tucker and Sam shared a look.

" _ They _ got kicked out. Jazz too. I was under the tree behind some fake presents to hide from the chaos and they left without me."

"How long were you there?"

"Two hours." Danny sighed, "the first, maybe five minutes or so, I was alone. No one noticed I was even there. Then I finally noticed how quiet it was, so I came out. I can't quite remember if I asked the elf if she knew where my family was or if she asked me. But I  _ do _ remember crying a lot."

"Obviously, you got home though," Tucker said as he finished the worksheets.

"Yeah, I think the elf lady was the one who drove me home." Danny smiled fondly at the thought of the kind woman with dark curly hair that smelled like coconut and peppermint.

"Well, at least this story has a happy ending."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I'm glad I gave a warning on this fic's potential lateness.  
> I will also be busy tomorrow, but I might be able to post it on the day/night if I'm able to write while I'm out. I just have to wait until I get home to edit/post.


	7. Day 07 - Boots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bored in class and feeling a 'mess with Wes' deficiency, Danny tests his abilities.

Danny couldn't help the second sigh that passed his lips. Today was just  _ so _ boring. 

With it being December, the ghosts had all decided to stick to the ghost zone as an early truce gift. It was nice of them, being finals and all. He really did need to do well on these tests.

But he was  _ so bored _ .

So, there he was, finished with his social studies final, with absolutely nothing to pass the time with.

He sighed again.

He looked around the room and spotted his favorite redheaded classmate. It had been a minute since he'd messed with him.

Wes was done with his test and reading a book on conspiracy theories. 

_ Well, clearly that could wait. _

Danny pulled out his notebook and scribbled a quick note and tossed it on Wes's desk. It simply read, "Do you like my boots?"

Wes read the note, looked down to see Danny's standard red converse, then squinted at him in suspicion. 

Danny gave him a cheesy grin then focused on his shoes. With just a moment of concentration, he was able to transform just his feet, so his shoes were now his Phantom boots.

Danny had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at the squawk Wes made.

The teacher pointedly glared over her glasses and cleared her throat as a warning. 

Wes turned beet red and stared holes into his desk.

_ That was definitely worth it. _

Danny did a quick scan of the room and turned his shoes back once the coast was clear.

A note bounced onto his desk as he was gazing out the window. "How the heck did you do that?"

Danny locked eyes with Wes and just shrugged. 

Wes glared daggers and mouthed, "liar."

Danny rolled his eyes with a smile and picked up his pencil, "okay you got me, but it's a whole thing," he thought on it for a second then added, "tell you at lunch?"

Wes looked over the note after flexing his basketball skills by snatching it out of the air when it was sent his way. 

He gave Danny a quick nod in agreement.

Sam and Tucker were a bit surprised to see that Wes was joining them for lunch today, but Danny assured them it was fine.

“I asked him to come. I promised to tell him about one of my wacky adventures,” he paused, “and now that I think about it, I don’t know if I told you guys about it either. Did I ever tell you about the time, me, Dash, and Skulker all got to reenact ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’?”

Met with a resounding " _ what?! _ ", he began his tale. It took most of the lunch hour to tell the completely bonkers, fever-dream of a day, but he did it.

“Okay, now what does that have to do with the boot thing?” Wes asked.

“My powers were shorting out and I was reverting bit by bit instead of all at once, so I figured I could do it on purpose if I really wanted to. And I did, and it worked. See!” he grinned as he swung his leg up and over the table from his sitting position easily showing off his softly glowing Phantom boot.

This action was quickly followed by, "Ew!", "Oh my God!", and "Get that off the table!" 

Danny laughed hard enough that he floated out of his chair by just a couple of inches.

Both Sam and Wes pushed Danny back into his seat.

Wes shook his head with a chuckle, "Why are you like this?"

"What can I say? I'm a mischievous spirit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so this was late because I was busy all day like I thought, but I also started writing this with a different idea and prompt word in mind but this happened instead? Don't get me wrong, I still love it. It just took me a minute to think of a relevant prompt word.


	8. Day 08 - Puppy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Red Huntress finally gets her revenge on the ghost dog that ruined her life, she thought it would fix everything. And maybe it would have. If Danny Fenton hadn’t seen it.

Finally, after over a year, it was here. She was about to get the thing she had wanted for so long.

She took a breath and steadied herself before she lined up her shot. Her target was staying relatively still and hadn’t noticed her yet. Her finger rested on the trigger and without a second thought, she fired.

The recoil hit her shoulder harder than she had been expecting but her aim was true.

The monster howled in pain and hit the pavement hard. The splatter of ectoplasm covering the street in its neon carnage.

She hopped off her hoverboard and walked closer to her downed pray, ready to finish the job if necessary.

She stopped dead when she realized she wasn’t the only one on the street.

Standing only a few feet away, close enough for droplets of green to speckle across his dirty red shoes.

He looked absolutely horrified.

But that made sense, everybody knew that Danny Fenton was terrified of ghosts.

She holstered her gun and made her way over avoiding the mess she’d have to clean up. “It’s okay. I got it.”

She expected him to relax, maybe even thank her for saving him. She hadn’t been expecting him to question her.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you shoot him?” His voice trembled as he refused to look away from the ghost, “He wasn’t hurting anyone.”

“That ghost was a menace.” Didn’t he understand that?

“He’s just a puppy.” his voice cracked on the word puppy, and that’s when she saw how watery his eyes were.

Did he seriously like dogs more than he disliked ghosts?

He closed the distance between himself and the ghost dog and fell to his knees almost like he was in a trance.

Before she could even think to stop him he reached out to touch it.

He immediately recoiled with a hiss as the raw ectoplasm touched his bare hand.

She moved to help him, but he leaned away from her. “Look I’m sorry you had to see this but at least let me give you a wipe to clean your hand.”

He glared at her but the tears running down his face dulled the effect and made him look more like a kicked puppy. Ironically.

She sighed, “If you leave it on there too long you’re going to get nerve damage.”

In an act of what was supposed to be defiance, he slammed his hand onto the street to use the pavement instead. Unfortunately for him, he ended up just dunking his hand into a puddle of ectoplasm instead.

His scream was so loud she was worried he was going to wake up the neighborhood if not the whole town. It also felt like her armor vibrated, but that must have been in her head.

She pulled him back and decided to take his hand whether he liked it or not. Luckily, she could get the wipes out and work one-handed because he kept squirming. “Would you stay still? I’m trying to help you.”

“You’ve done enough!” he yanked free just as she finished.

“Why were you even out here anyway? It’s almost four in the morning.”

“I could ask you the same thing.” he retorted holding his wrist as he flexed his hand.

“Really?”

“Whatever.” he pouted and made a point of looking away from her.

“You going to tell me?”

“You’re smart, figure it out!” he yelled back before turning around and heading home.

She sucked the faded remains of the former ghost dog and caught up to him.

“Why are you following me.”

“To make sure you get home safe.”

He huffed in annoyance but didn’t protest further.

After a few blocks, he broke the silence with a question, “Are there any other ghosts in there?” he nodded to the thermos in her hand.

“No." They had just reached his front steps.

“Can I have it? I can trade you for one of ours."

"Why?”

"Because I wanted to, umm," he hesitated and looked at his shoes instead of answering.

Valerie was sure he couldn't see her face with her visor on, but she couldn't help but raise her eyebrow in confusion. She looked at the thermos in her hand then back to Danny.

She sighed and against her better judgment she handed it over.

"Thanks." He held the thermos carefully, "I wanted to give him a proper burial. I doubt he got one the last time."

Why did he care so much about some mangy ghost? Was he just that kind-hearted or was she missing something?


	9. Day 09 - Silent Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny tells the story of why he knows ASL.

“How’s the sound-proof December going, Danny?” Tucker asked.

“Fantastic!” Danny beamed while he held his hand, palm facing himself, and shook it at the wrist in front of his chest.

“Oh really?” Sam didn't hide how doubtful she was that the solution to Danny’s parental issues was to just wear headphones.

He nodded with that big goofy grin still on his face, “It did take my parents about a week to notice I was ignoring them, but it’s whatever.” he did a few more gestures as he spoke but the only one that stood out to her was that the last one looked like he was slapping the tips of his fingers together.

“What?!” Both Sam and Tucker exclaimed in unison.

Choosing to ignore them both for some reason, Danny continued, “I only regret not thinking of this sooner. I mean, if I had been listening to audiobooks at the start of the semester I wouldn’t have to be doing so many extra credit book reports right now.”

“Is that your only regret?” Tucker teasingly asked.

“No! Podcasts! I had no idea there were so many!”

Sam reached out and grabbed Danny’s hands, “We get it, you can sign. You don’t need to do it here. We don’t know what you’re saying anyway.”

“Oh,” he slouched in his seat and looked away, “Right sorry.”

Tucker bumped shoulders with Danny with a smile, “Don’t sweat it, dude. Besides, I want to hear the backstory of this language acquisition!”

“Did I not?” he stopped and thought for a second.

“Nope.” Tucker answered with emphasis on the ‘p’.

“Grandpa Fenton was hard of hearing for at least as long as my dad can remember, if not his whole life. Dad’s best evidence of this is how his dad would constantly say, ‘Jackie-boy, speak up, I can’t hear you.’ Which now that I think about it, maybe that’s why my dad is so loud all the time?”

“You just now figured that out?” came Sam’s biting quip.

“Hey, I never claimed to be the smart one.”

“Yeah, but you think someone who knows so much about constellations would be better at connecting the dots.”

Instead of getting mad, Danny busted up laughing. “Now that’s a good one.”

“Stop getting distracted and finish the story,” Tucker interrupted slapping the table in an impatient rhythm.

“Oh right!” Danny perked up and continued, “I guess all there is left to say is that his hearing didn’t get any better as he got older. So, when I was about 5 or so he started learning to sign when the home care nurse started visiting and I thought it was neat and wanted to know too. Dad took us all to get lessons. But me and Gramps were the only ones who really picked it up.”

“I thought the whole silent December thing was only working because your family could still talk to you?”

“I mean Dad understands it, he’s just a bit clumsy with his responses. And Jazz is okay as long as you don’t go too fast. I spent all weekend with her going back over the basics.” his gaze drifted towards the table but didn’t seem to be looking at anything in particular. “It was nice to be able to use it again.”

The trio was quiet for a moment until Danny abruptly stood up. “Well, I’m going to go to the bathroom now. To pee? Alone. Bye.” Then he marched himself straight into the nearest restroom.

“How is it that he still hasn’t figured out how to lie?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“What are you still doing here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Go in there. See what’s wrong.”

“Why do I have to go?”

“One, you’ve known him longer, and more importantly, you’re a boy.”

Tucker sighed in defeat but relented all the same. “Alright fine, but you have to guard the door so no one else comes in, okay?”

“Deal.”

The two shook on it and made their way over.

Sam positioned herself so that the bathroom door was partially ajar. There was no way she was going to miss out on what was happening, or worse, rely on the boys to tell her what happened.

The squeak of rubber against tile was Sam’s clue that Danny was in fact, pacing. Something he only does when he’s trying to calm himself down.

“Tucker? What are you doing in here?”

“It’s a public bathroom. But more importantly, are you okay?”

“I’m  _ fine _ .”

“Dude, you are a terrible liar.”

Danny sighed, “It’s not a big deal. I’m just being dumb.”

“I don’t think it’s because you’re dumb.” there was a definite pause before Tucker quickly added, “I also don’t think you  _ are  _ dumb.”

“Nice save.” Danny chuckled softly.

“I try. So, you gonna tell me, or do I gotta drag it out of you?”

“It’s not that big a deal.”

“If it’s not a big deal, then you can tell me.”

Danny was quiet for a second, most likely just realizing he had just walked right into that one.

“Well?” Tucker prompted.

“I just didn’t think that just talking about him would suck this much. It’s been five years; I should be over it. I  _ was  _ over it.”

“That’s not how grief works buddy.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Now what?”

“Now we hug it out until you feel better.”

“Might be a while.”

“That’s fine.”


	10. Day 10 - Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU where instead of having Undergrowth to fight when he got his ice powers his parents actually notice something is wrong.

Maddie found it a bit odd when Danny came downstairs with his sweater on but didn't question it. Maybe it was a teenager thing? It certainly didn't have anything to do with the weather seeing as it was a lovely spring day.

She did have to intervene when she saw him about to leave bundled up in his winter coat. "Sweetheart why are you wearing your coat?"

"I'm just feeling a bit chilly today." As if to prove his point a full-body shudder ran down his body head to toe.

"You sure you didn't come down with something?" She walked over and looked him over trying to find any signs of sickness.

"I don't think so. I don't feel sick. Just cold."

It wasn't exactly Flu season, but that didn't mean she should rule it out. Having chills was a symptom after all and he had been staying out past curfew without a jacket.

She pulled off her glove and felt his forehead with the back of her hand.

The shock of how cold he was had her recoil on instinct. "Oh sweetie, you're freezing."

Danny whimpered when she pulled away, "I told you.”

She pulled him into a protective hug.

He nuzzled into her neck and clung to her like a baby koala. “You’re warm,” he muttered in approval.

She was only warm by comparison. He felt like he'd been outside in a snowstorm.

She scooped him up and took him to the coach, “Take off your shoes and stay here.”

“But mom, I’m supposed to meet up with Sam and Tucker.”

“You’re just going to have to call them up and reschedule. I don’t want you leaving that spot.”

He sighed but did what she said, curling up on the couch once his shoes were off.

She pulled the quilt from the closet and bundled him up before going to find the thermometer. On the way back she overheard his half of the conversation with his friends.

“No trust me you don’t want this. I’m a burrito on the couch with our thickest blanket and I’m wearing a sweater and my winter coat with the hood up. And I’m  _ still  _ freezing.” he was quiet as he listened, pulling the quilt up closer to his ears. “Yeah, I know. But I’ll probably be better by Monday, so I’ll see you at school.” he smiled at whatever was said before saying goodbye.

Maddie waited for him to hang up before coming into view. She waved the thermometer in the air, “Open wide.”

It didn’t take long for the results, but Maddie had to do a double-take when she saw them. She had been expecting a fever, something close to 100 or over that. She wasn’t prepared for 93.


	11. Day 11 - Eggnog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny enjoys some eggnog at Vlad's lame Christmas party.

Danny slouched against the banister as he people-watched in the entryway. After everything, he was surprised that his mom actually agreed to go to Vlad's Christmas party.

Then again maybe she didn't feel like she could say no, especially with Dad right there always ready to accept any kind of invitation from the sleaze-ball.

What was more annoying was that  _ he  _ had to be there too. It's not like there was anyone his age around. He didn't even have Jazz to talk to because she had plans tonight with a girl she had met on a college tour.

Which Danny had a sinking suspicion  _ might  _ be a date. They were meeting up at Jazz's favorite bookstore café, which she had mentioned before would be her ideal place to go on a date.

And she had been talking about her a  _ lot  _ ever since they met.

It didn't matter to him either way, he just wanted to know if they were hanging out or holding hands. Or whatever it was that couples did.

Danny shook the thought from his mind and, now that he was paying attention again, he noticed everyone was drifting towards a room to the left of him and the stairs.

He got up and followed the crowd of adults and found the buffet. At least Vlad always had good food at his dumb parties.

After he had made his first pass filling up his plate he grabbed a little glass mug of eggnog.

As he looked for a nice place to sit, he took a sip. It tasted a bit different than he was used to, but it was probably just because it was expensive. He shrugged and figured he might as well enjoy it.

* * *

Maddie's cheeks were getting sore from all the polite smiling at strangers who were only here for political or business motivated ambitions. The only person who was  _ actually  _ here for Vlad as a person, was Jack.

That was just sad.

Maddie loved her husband dearly, but she wasn't sure she could stand another second at Vlad's terrible party.

She scanned the room looking for her son. He definitely disliked Vlad as much as she did, maybe more. She didn't miss that glare and underhanded comments from her son whenever Vlad stood a little too close and touched her longer than necessary.

It did warm her heart that he cared so much about her.

She didn't see him in the room she was in, so she made her way to the buffet. Figuring that if he was anything like his father, that’s where he’d be. 

She couldn't help the smile when she saw him sitting on the stairs with a half-eaten plate of appetizers and three empty glasses next to him and a fourth half-full glass in his hands.

"Hi Mom!" He somehow managed to stumble down the only two steps he had to take and yet didn't spill his drink. "You gotta try this eggnog. It's kind of spicy, but I like it." He offered her his cup and she noticed how flushed his cheeks were.

“Spicy?” she took a sip and immediately found her reason to leave.

She took a deep breath and did her best to keep her temper in check. Danny clearly didn’t realize what he had done. “Sweetheart, can you show me where you got this?”

“Yeah!” he nodded a little too enthusiastically and swayed a bit on his feet. “Follow me!”

He led her into the buffet room and pointed to the table covered in the same little glass mugs. It was completely unguarded.

She set the cup in her hand on the nearest flat surface and steered her son out of the room, “Come on Danny, let’s go find your father and go home.”

“Okie Dokie.” he grinned and hugged her arm.

She gave his head a gentle pat before setting off towards the boisterous sounds of her husband's laughter. She was always grateful that he was extremely easy to find and impossible to lose.

“Hey-a Maddie!” Jack greeted with a big grin, but his face fell into confusion when he saw Danny. “You alright there, son?”

“Little dizzy all of a sudden.” Danny let go of her and held his head as he stared at the floor, “I think I got up too fast?”

Maddie placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder to keep him from toppling over, “Could you call Vlad over for me, hon?”

“Sure thing!” Jack turned and easily spotted Vlad over the heads of the crowd. “Hey Vladdie! Mads wants to talk to you!”

In no time at all Vlad slithered his way through the crowd, “Whatever do you need, my dear?”

“What’s in your eggnog?” she asked simply, hoping that maybe, just maybe, this was somebody else’s fault. Someone who didn’t know her son was going to be here.

“Eggs, cream, milk, sugar, nutmeg” he paused to puff up his chest proudly, “and the finest Bourbon.”

Before Maddie could berate him for being so careless, Danny threw up all over Vlad’s overpriced slacks.

Danny wrinkled his nose in disgust but also started laughing. “Ew, I made a mess.”

Maddie locked eyes with Vlad and leaned in as close as she dared, “I would apologize, but you brought this on yourself.” Then she turned and left while Jack easily picked up their son and followed her out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was inspired by the song [Ho Ho Ho by Sia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGanJGGVSrw).


	12. Day 12 - Ornament [Angel Part 2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of Angel. Danny tells his friends what happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And at long last here is the 12th installment to my 12 Days of Fic-mas!

Danny was both grateful and filled with dread about the upcoming lunch hour.

Grateful, because he could finally tell his friends what happened. 

He also dreaded it because then they would know what happened. 

Knowing he couldn't keep it from them for very long, he didn't bother to hide his despair.

“Guys I messed up.” Danny lamented was he took his seat at their lunch table.

“Care to elaborate?” Sam asked with a raised brow and a curious smile.

“Well, you know how my ghost sense went off in English?” The pair nodded and he continued. “It was just Skulker, so it didn’t take long to deal with him, so I flew back to school and changed back in one of the bathrooms. And I swear I checked the whole room, every stall, and no one was in there, so I just changed back but then someone came in..”

“Who was it?”

“Paulina.” He held his hands up to keep them from freaking out too much, “But it’s not as bad as you think!”

“Go on.”

“Apparently she’s been suspicious of me for a while now.”

“I’m surprised more people aren’t,” Tucker added.

“ _ Anyway _ , I guess she’s been gathering notes or paying more attention to me than I ever thought she would. And I didn’t know how to tell her she was wrong without telling her the truth and all of her ‘evidence’ are true things, technically, but they don’t mean what she thinks they mean. I think I missed my chance to fix it and now I’m stuck with this.”

“Fix  _ what _ ?”

“Yeah man, what does she think?”

Danny bit his lip before resigning to his fate and telling them. “She thinks I’m an angel.”

Both of them were silent for longer than he liked until Sam finally blinked and simply asked, “What?”

“You know how my transformation is two rings of light?” they nodded still looking pretty confused, “Well I guess she saw the tail end of it and there was still the one over my head and she mistook it for a halo.”

“And you didn’t try to convince her that she didn’t see anything?”

“By the time I realized what she saw it was too late! And then she started going on about how everything made sense now and I was too curious, I had to know.”

“What was her evidence?”

“That I’m too nice, and I don’t try to fight back against Dash, and that I don’t swear.”

“I guess you do turn the other cheek when it comes to Dash.” 

“And the not swearing falls nicely under not taking the lord's name in vain,” Sam added with a nod.

“Guys, you’re not helping! I can’t be an angel! I don’t know anything about it.”

“Really?”

“I’ve never read the book and I don’t go to church. Especially not after I got banned from Tucker’s Sunday school.”

“Oh yeah! I can’t believe I almost forgot about that!” Tucker said before busting up laughing.

“Wait, what? How did that happen?” Sam asked looking equally curious as amused.

“Well, I suppose the short answer would be I was asking too many questions. But Mom always says if you want to understand something you have to ask questions.”

“What was the question that got you  _ banned _ ?”

“Well, the teacher was talking about, um,” Danny paused trying to remember the term, he sighed and turned to tucker, “What’s the thing where they dunk you in the water for Jesus?”

Tucker closed his eyes and looked away but answered all the same, “Baptism. Danny, it’s called a Baptism.”

“Yeah, that’s it!”

Sam was doing her best to hold back her laughter so Danny could continue.

“That wasn’t the question. No, after she had explained that it was to clean your soul so you can get into heaven, I asked,  _ as a legitimate question _ , if your soul is on the inside, wouldn’t it be faster just to drink the holy water?”

Both his friends lost it and he could help but laugh too. Looking back, it  _ was  _ kind of funny.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any one-word prompt ideas of even a short idea, feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments! I won't promise to write them but will look at all of them and will credit you for the idea if I do write it.
> 
> ❆Happy Holidays!❆


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